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Subject: National Team
Nice result straight out of the box.
That wont go unnoticed!
That wont go unnoticed!
8:2 is awesome :D Though the score was a bit too high, no question about that. It's weird though, I'm 99.9% sure we had more missed shots than 5. Might count them later on...
And well, it's 7/13, the 2nd goal went in after Drum dribbled the gk and the def went into the goal with ball.
Would be great to keep the level at least till next week. Italy can be a harsh mistress :p
ed: rank points today = 2275.43
I wonder how much will we improve
(edited)
And well, it's 7/13, the 2nd goal went in after Drum dribbled the gk and the def went into the goal with ball.
Would be great to keep the level at least till next week. Italy can be a harsh mistress :p
ed: rank points today = 2275.43
I wonder how much will we improve
(edited)
That win really helped close the gap with 35th, and now puts us within striking distance of all the way up to 29th. Great work mate
30pts gain, nice. If we manage to win all friendly game and all WC games except Schweiz and Italy we should be in top 30 or at least very close to it.
Not getting battered by Italy and Schweiz would help too ;)
Not getting battered by Italy and Schweiz would help too ;)
We lost Puca due to 3rd yellow card, bummer. If there are 3 guys I need healthy now, those are Barnes, Erdogan and Puca.
In general the situation of central midfield is a bit worrying. Only Puca&Stewart are in good forms, Villagan is struggling, Gardiner is going down [already only v. good...]. A bit worrying.
In general the situation of central midfield is a bit worrying. Only Puca&Stewart are in good forms, Villagan is struggling, Gardiner is going down [already only v. good...]. A bit worrying.
Bowyer is a central midfielder. Erdogan can be used as a central midfielder if required. The loss of Puca and the poor form of Villafane is a bit of a blow.
Yeah, Bowyer and Erdogan are useful on this position, but still Villa and Puca would be the first choice. :)
:)
Ok, finished the tactic, only a little bit of tinkering here and there needed. I have no idea how tomorrows game will look like, I just hope it won't end with a shameful result...
I would be much calmer if I could use Villafane and Puca, but this is sokker. Libesson lost his form so it's another blow for the central midfield, might be a struggle to make things work in this part.
Italy has a new coach so it's still difficult to guess what we can expect from him, especially as he can play whichever way he wants with Italy.
Hoping for at least half-even game, with some emotions, save for the cards and injuries.
Go sokkeroos!
Ok, finished the tactic, only a little bit of tinkering here and there needed. I have no idea how tomorrows game will look like, I just hope it won't end with a shameful result...
I would be much calmer if I could use Villafane and Puca, but this is sokker. Libesson lost his form so it's another blow for the central midfield, might be a struggle to make things work in this part.
Italy has a new coach so it's still difficult to guess what we can expect from him, especially as he can play whichever way he wants with Italy.
Hoping for at least half-even game, with some emotions, save for the cards and injuries.
Go sokkeroos!
Italy's strength aside, we don't need to be gifting them wins. Failure to cover a red at the back is inexcusable, it's a must have. Cost us all 4 goals today as a direct result of failing to cover the red to Midtsian. We were quite lucky not to have lost by 7 or 8.
I think you place too big an emphasis on form too btw. Despite Villafane being in average form, he still has a higher value than Sterjovski in high form. Sterjovski shouldn't have played. I could come up with a similar excuse for Nesic and put Hunter in but it's much more borderline and in the end probably an understandable decision.
In a tactic like that, I'd have liked to have seen Stewart and Libbesson in your back 2 dm's and Erdogan,Bowyer and Gardiner/Villafane making up the other midfield positions. The primary role of a dm is to tackle and Sterjovski won't do it often enough at NT level, nor will Bowyer.
Wasting substitutions on midfielders when you're already concerned about midfield depth is a surprising approach. If you're short of choice, stick to those you currently have. The benefit of a sub only truly exists when you have a ready made player just as good ready to come on.
In any normal course of events, had we covered the red card and I suppose made slightly better positional choices, we could have won that game, especially after they had a midfielder red carded themselves.
Subbing Barnes off when you're only playing a single striker seems a bit odd too, given nobody else has the pace/tech combo substantial enough to break the line against their world class defenders.
I would have preferred to see orders used to protect important positions, then to use substitution orders.
What were the orders anyway, you made 3 sub orders, which other player had you failed to cover for a red card? The striker?
It's not all poor though, I did like the way you set Barnes up to punch through a hole in Italy's defence. On another day we may well have scored 2-3 goals. Once they lost their midfielder we should have pressed home that advantage by drawing the inside def out and freeing Barnes up more often but then he was subbed :p.
4-1 on paper isn't damaging to our chances but hopefully we never see conditional orders fail to be used.
Better luck next week :).
I think you place too big an emphasis on form too btw. Despite Villafane being in average form, he still has a higher value than Sterjovski in high form. Sterjovski shouldn't have played. I could come up with a similar excuse for Nesic and put Hunter in but it's much more borderline and in the end probably an understandable decision.
In a tactic like that, I'd have liked to have seen Stewart and Libbesson in your back 2 dm's and Erdogan,Bowyer and Gardiner/Villafane making up the other midfield positions. The primary role of a dm is to tackle and Sterjovski won't do it often enough at NT level, nor will Bowyer.
Wasting substitutions on midfielders when you're already concerned about midfield depth is a surprising approach. If you're short of choice, stick to those you currently have. The benefit of a sub only truly exists when you have a ready made player just as good ready to come on.
In any normal course of events, had we covered the red card and I suppose made slightly better positional choices, we could have won that game, especially after they had a midfielder red carded themselves.
Subbing Barnes off when you're only playing a single striker seems a bit odd too, given nobody else has the pace/tech combo substantial enough to break the line against their world class defenders.
I would have preferred to see orders used to protect important positions, then to use substitution orders.
What were the orders anyway, you made 3 sub orders, which other player had you failed to cover for a red card? The striker?
It's not all poor though, I did like the way you set Barnes up to punch through a hole in Italy's defence. On another day we may well have scored 2-3 goals. Once they lost their midfielder we should have pressed home that advantage by drawing the inside def out and freeing Barnes up more often but then he was subbed :p.
4-1 on paper isn't damaging to our chances but hopefully we never see conditional orders fail to be used.
Better luck next week :).
Italy's strength aside, we don't need to be gifting them wins. Failure to cover a red at the back is inexcusable, it's a must have. Cost us all 4 goals today as a direct result of failing to cover the red to Midtsian. We were quite lucky not to have lost by 7 or 8.
Midtsian was the only def without red conditional and of course he had to get a red in 3rd minute..sigh...I decided to do so because of limited number of conditional orders, turned out to be the killer. On the other hand with one of the mids on that positions it wouldn't change that much...
I think you place too big an emphasis on form too btw. Despite Villafane being in average form, he still has a higher value than Sterjovski in high form. Sterjovski shouldn't have played. I could come up with a similar excuse for Nesic and put Hunter in but it's much more borderline and in the end probably an understandable decision.
I once tested forms with checking the pace of same pace players in different forms and there were very big differences...I might give Villafane a try next time, but still think that form less than solid makes a player only 70% of his skills and value isn't the key to assess it
In a tactic like that, I'd have liked to have seen Stewart and Libbesson in your back 2 dm's and Erdogan,Bowyer and Gardiner/Villafane making up the other midfield positions. The primary role of a dm is to tackle and Sterjovski won't do it often enough at NT level, nor will Bowyer.
I know. Libesson was the chosen one throughout the week, but then his form fell twicie [monday, thursday]. Stewart was needed because of high pm and generally high skills as his position was key to the tactic - could've used Puca or Villafane but you know why I couldn't really...
Wasting substitutions on midfielders when you're already concerned about midfield depth is a surprising approach. If you're short of choice, stick to those you currently have. The benefit of a sub only truly exists when you have a ready made player just as good ready to come on.
I used Libesson as I was 50/50 who to use before the game, as for Gardiner I thought that Erdogan might get carded and fatigued, hence the sub.
In any normal course of events, had we covered the red card and I suppose made slightly better positional choices, we could have won that game, especially after they had a midfielder red carded themselves.
Yes, there was a chance. On the other hand covering the red would made one of the side strikers a bit free and that wouldn't help as well.
Subbing Barnes off when you're only playing a single striker seems a bit odd too, given nobody else has the pace/tech combo substantial enough to break the line against their world class defenders.
As a lone striker he had to run all the time, especially with this kind of defensive movement that Italy does. Drum did good, he has less pace+tech skills, but after 60mins of constant running Barnes was exhausted and it goes for Italian defs as well. Drum got same number of situations that Barnes did...
I would have preferred to see orders used to protect important positions, then to use substitution orders.
It was a risk, probably unnecessary, my fault then.
What were the orders anyway, you made 3 sub orders, which other player had you failed to cover for a red card? The striker?
Yes, the striker.
It's not all poor though, I did like the way you set Barnes up to punch through a hole in Italy's defence. On another day we may well have scored 2-3 goals. Once they lost their midfielder we should have pressed home that advantage by drawing the inside def out and freeing Barnes up more often but then he was subbed :p.
yeh, striker positioning was decent. the def mids were placed well too, though they obviously lacked defender so nothing good came out of their marking.
4-1 on paper isn't damaging to our chances but hopefully we never see conditional orders fail to be used.
Better luck next week :).
will try my...better :p without the red and with such performance against Schweiz we could've snatched a point; now it's time for a friendly to try some more ideas. I have to analise how did the def movement work with very low defence moving fast forward.
Midtsian was the only def without red conditional and of course he had to get a red in 3rd minute..sigh...I decided to do so because of limited number of conditional orders, turned out to be the killer. On the other hand with one of the mids on that positions it wouldn't change that much...
I think you place too big an emphasis on form too btw. Despite Villafane being in average form, he still has a higher value than Sterjovski in high form. Sterjovski shouldn't have played. I could come up with a similar excuse for Nesic and put Hunter in but it's much more borderline and in the end probably an understandable decision.
I once tested forms with checking the pace of same pace players in different forms and there were very big differences...I might give Villafane a try next time, but still think that form less than solid makes a player only 70% of his skills and value isn't the key to assess it
In a tactic like that, I'd have liked to have seen Stewart and Libbesson in your back 2 dm's and Erdogan,Bowyer and Gardiner/Villafane making up the other midfield positions. The primary role of a dm is to tackle and Sterjovski won't do it often enough at NT level, nor will Bowyer.
I know. Libesson was the chosen one throughout the week, but then his form fell twicie [monday, thursday]. Stewart was needed because of high pm and generally high skills as his position was key to the tactic - could've used Puca or Villafane but you know why I couldn't really...
Wasting substitutions on midfielders when you're already concerned about midfield depth is a surprising approach. If you're short of choice, stick to those you currently have. The benefit of a sub only truly exists when you have a ready made player just as good ready to come on.
I used Libesson as I was 50/50 who to use before the game, as for Gardiner I thought that Erdogan might get carded and fatigued, hence the sub.
In any normal course of events, had we covered the red card and I suppose made slightly better positional choices, we could have won that game, especially after they had a midfielder red carded themselves.
Yes, there was a chance. On the other hand covering the red would made one of the side strikers a bit free and that wouldn't help as well.
Subbing Barnes off when you're only playing a single striker seems a bit odd too, given nobody else has the pace/tech combo substantial enough to break the line against their world class defenders.
As a lone striker he had to run all the time, especially with this kind of defensive movement that Italy does. Drum did good, he has less pace+tech skills, but after 60mins of constant running Barnes was exhausted and it goes for Italian defs as well. Drum got same number of situations that Barnes did...
I would have preferred to see orders used to protect important positions, then to use substitution orders.
It was a risk, probably unnecessary, my fault then.
What were the orders anyway, you made 3 sub orders, which other player had you failed to cover for a red card? The striker?
Yes, the striker.
It's not all poor though, I did like the way you set Barnes up to punch through a hole in Italy's defence. On another day we may well have scored 2-3 goals. Once they lost their midfielder we should have pressed home that advantage by drawing the inside def out and freeing Barnes up more often but then he was subbed :p.
yeh, striker positioning was decent. the def mids were placed well too, though they obviously lacked defender so nothing good came out of their marking.
4-1 on paper isn't damaging to our chances but hopefully we never see conditional orders fail to be used.
Better luck next week :).
will try my...better :p without the red and with such performance against Schweiz we could've snatched a point; now it's time for a friendly to try some more ideas. I have to analise how did the def movement work with very low defence moving fast forward.
Well, you won't have to worry about Villafane's form for the next 3 weeks.
Ouch. Well maybe it will make his forme raise, happens sometimes...
We all know the real reason you lost to Italy. The almighty Carpano.
Stathakis is beginning to come out of his form slump. Highest form he has had for 58 weeks. Interestingly since playing 2 games a week the form has risen. Obviously wants more game time. If the form keeps improving he'll be in contention for the NT I'd imagine.